Dear St. Luke's Family and Friends,
As your Vestry, we are thinking about you and praying for you in these difficult times. We hope that you and your families are well and taking all CDC recommended steps to remain safe.
We also write you to let you know that your Vestry and its Executive Committee continue to meet virtually along with Ed Bacon, our Interim Rector, to address the challenges that we face during this public health crisis.
It has become clear to us that we will need to remain on a virtual worship schedule, live streaming a 10 AM service, at least through Easter. Our clergy and staff have also put together several additional creative opportunities for our parish to be together in new ways, such as
Noonday Prayers
,
Compline
,
Soupless Scripture
, and
Storytime
, all of which you can access through St. Luke’s website (
stlukesatlanta.org
), Facebook page or YouTube. And, the clergy and staff continue to brainstorm and explore means of technology to enable our community to gather and worship in new creative ways.
For the time being, the Church building is closed to all meetings and other gatherings for your protection and the protection of staff.
Many of our staff members are now working from home; however, our Sextons and our Facilities Manager, Brian Hummel, continue to work in the building daily.
Given the closure of local restaurants, our “Kitchen Gurus” Dina Moore and John Divine McGee are working on a proposal to offer take-out meals to parishioners and friends. Dina and John will keep us all advised as they continue to develop this plan.
During these turbulent days, one of our constants is the need to pay our bills, meet payroll to keep our staff intact, and invest financially in God’s mission in downtown Atlanta. If you have made a pledge for 2020, we ask that you please stay current as you are able while we’re not gathering physically. If you haven’t pledged, please consider making a pledge for 2020 no matter the amount. Every dollar given makes a difference in our ministry. The Church’s website offers several convenient ways you can donate while the offering plate is not being passed in the pews!
To keep in touch with all of you, we have asked the Rev. Horace Griffin and Mark Simmons to collaborate on logistics for staff and volunteers to call every member of the parish. We want to simply check in and make sure
St. Lukers
are okay. It is important that in this time when we’re physically isolated, we stay connected and take care of one another. So, expect a call soon. Of course, if you have an immediate pastoral care need about which you’d like to speak with a priest, don’t wait for our call. Please contact Michelle Jemmott (
michelle@stlukesatlanta.org
), and she will confidentially shepherd your request.
On the Rector search front, Bishop Wright has directed that all Rector searches in the Diocese take a 30-day pause for the sake of both the candidates and the searching parishes.
Finally, we are keenly aware that, aside from the very real health-related crisis, some of us are experiencing significant personal financial challenges during this period. In typical St. Luke’s fashion, some parishioners have already asked if there is a way to help their fellow parishioners in need. We have therefore set up a coronavirus benevolence fund to which parishioners may contribute. Anyone wishing to do so may mail a check payable to “St. Luke’s Coronavirus Benevolence Fund” c/o David Hendee, 435 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, Georgia 30308, or you may make a contribution online at
www.stlukesatlanta.org
. Any parishioner seeking assistance from this Fund, as well as a limited amount from another similar source, may direct the request to The Rev. Horace Griffin at
horace@stlukesatlanta.org
. Horace and a very small subset of the Vestry will handle the requests on a confidential basis.
**************************
Please pray for the clergy and the staff in these days as they are being asked to do more with less. Please pray for this Vestry as we continue to pray for you.
As Ed has said, “We're going to get through this public health crisis and we're going to do it the St. Luke's way – together.”
